South Sudan’s inflation rate increased 661.3 percent during the past year, the government reported today.It is the latest news of financial hardship for South Sudan, which has experienced economic freefall this calander year.
The skyrocketing inflation rate was almost exclusively due to a spike in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the past month alone, the price of goods has increased nearly 80 percent across the country.
The value of the SSP has also plummeted since the country decided to devalue its currency in December 2015. One dollar used to yield three SSP, but due to a combination of corruption and diminishing foreign reserves, the Central Bank was forced to abandon its peg.
On Monday, one dollar yield sixty five South Sudanese pounds.